This brief statement in a response to a Wall Street Journal news piece on the progress of the debt negotiations pretty much says it all....

Looking at the situation from the outside into the U.S., the manner in which your political leaders are acting is sickening. It beggars the belief that they are prepared to bring the U.S. and possibly the world economy to it’s knees over silly partisan politics. Your politicians are irresponsible to say the least as it appears they are prepared to bet the US economy on a game of brinksmanship – how pathetic. It just goes to show how far the once great United States has deteriorated in the eyes of the rest of the world. Something is seriously sick in your politics.

sad but true...

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

This brief statement in a response to a Wall Street Journal news piece on the progress of the debt negotiations pretty much says it all....

Looking at the situation from the outside into the U.S., the manner in which your political leaders are acting is sickening. It beggars the belief that they are prepared to bring the U.S. and possibly the world economy to it’s knees over silly partisan politics. Your politicians are irresponsible to say the least as it appears they are prepared to bet the US economy on a game of brinksmanship – how pathetic. It just goes to show how far the once great United States has deteriorated in the eyes of the rest of the world. Something is seriously sick in your politics.

Could you supply a link to this statement please !

Thanks

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

This brief statement in a response to a Wall Street Journal news piece on the progress of the debt negotiations pretty much says it all....

Looking at the situation from the outside into the U.S., the manner in which your political leaders are acting is sickening. It beggars the belief that they are prepared to bring the U.S. and possibly the world economy to it’s knees over silly partisan politics. Your politicians are irresponsible to say the least as it appears they are prepared to bet the US economy on a game of brinksmanship – how pathetic. It just goes to show how far the once great United States has deteriorated in the eyes of the rest of the world. Something is seriously sick in your politics.

Reminds me of a quote by Robert Burns. "If only God would give us the gift to see ourselves as others see us".

The quote may not be exact as the original was in his native Scottish accent.

Originally Posted by Rags123

Could you supply a link to this statement please !

Thanks

I'm sorry I can't. It was in the "comments" section attached to an article in the WSJ on the debt negotiations. I can't even remember the exact title of the article.

Even this morning on The Morning Joe on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough and the panelists discussed the untold damage that the U.S. has done to itself by essentially proving to the rest of the world that our system of government is incapable of dealing with major problems such as we're facing now. Some recalled how it took our Congress almost a week to pass the TARP legislation, even though it was clear that our economy was essentially shutting down hour-by-hour. Coming from the conservative Joe, I was surprised. Like the rest of us who are sitting by and watching this all play out, the panelists kept asking the same question I'd guess we're asking ourselves...why?

Is there any ideology or set of political objectives so important to justify doing major damage to our economy and our national reputation? The panelists gave several examples of politicians with pretty diverse ideological beliefs being able to negotiate and get important legislation passed. They mentioned Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill as well as Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich getting important legislation passed by both "giving" a little in the negotiations. The panelists opined that the freshmen House members, the Tea Party members, are too inexperienced to understand either the damage that they're doing or how to play the Congressional game to further their cause. Comments were made that some of that caucus is still denying that a credit downgrade or default is even possible, a dangerous position to take in such a critical negotiation.

(By the way, if anyone hasn't seen the HBO documentary movie Too Big To Fail, be sure to watch it. It's being re-broadcast this week on HBO. It really tells the story of what was going on behind the scenes at Lehman Brothers and in the Treasury Department back at the end of 2008 and early 2009. Highly recommended.)

I just don't understand why the GOP doesn't take Obama's offier and declare victory. You get both spending freezes and entitlement reform. You get a simplification of the tax code and lose some deductions. What more does the GOP want?

A European with the gall to criticize the U.S. with Europe reeling in red ink? Really? I'm supposed to care about this opinion?

I agree we got a lot to straighten out here, this guy can kiss my American..............

Richie,ever see the movie Ugly American?

Originally Posted by waynet;37***7

Richie,ever see the movie Ugly American?

The one in 1963 that takes place in Southeast Asia?

Originally Posted by RichieLion;37***2

A European with the gall to criticize the U.S. with Europe reeling in red ink? Really? I'm supposed to care about this opinion?

I agree we got a lot to straighten out here, this guy can kiss my American..............

After one tries to control their emotions and discuss the situation in an invective-free way, do you think it might do any good to try to figure out how the European countries who have fiscal problems similar to our own got that way? Did they conduct themselves politically in the same way our government has done? Are they even addressing their problems now, or just waiting for someone else to bail them out?

Sure it's easy to be critical of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland, Richie, but is there anything to be learned from their experience?

I'll point out one big difference. Our boat is floating on it's own bottom. There is no EU, IMF or World Bank to bail us out...even if they wanted to!

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/20...tml?ref=sunday

Smoke and mirrors by the extreme far-left Times.

Originally Posted by villagegolfer

Smoke and mirrors by the extreme far-left Times.

Classic response. If you don't have any facts to counter an argument, just call what's being said lies or smoke and mirrors. That'll help everyone make good decisions next time they have to go into a voting booth.

If anyone says simply that they will vote for one party or another and don't let their thought process go any further than that, we'll deserve what we get for a government. We'll get more of what we've seen for the last decade or two because that's exactly the way the politicians craft their statements, political ads and soundbites. Crafted to appeal to people who they know won't choose to think.

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

Classic response. If you don't have any facts to counter an argument, just call what's being said lies or smoke and mirrors. That'll help everyone make good decisions next time they have to go into a voting booth.

If anyone says simply that they will vote for one party or another and don't let their thought process go any further than that, we'll deserve what we get for a government. We'll get more of what we've seen for the last decade or two because that's exactly the way the politicians craft their statements, political ads and soundbites. Crafted to appeal to people who they know won't choose to think.

You make blanket judgements that people who post here do not think or read the facts. I may not be the most articulate person on this forum but I resent the arrogance of your insinuations.

Originally Posted by villagegolfer

You make blanket judgements that people who post here do not think or read the facts. I may not be the most articulate person on this forum but I resent the arrogance of your insinuations.

Was the post that you entered an "insinuation", or something just to aggravate those who either don't agree with you or prefer to conduct a meaningful dialog? I guess all I can say is if you read my response to your silly post as an insinuation, you way underestimated its meaning.